Notes & Quotes: Me, But Better by Olga Khazan

The following are my favorite quotes from Olga Khazan's Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change.

1. You can change your life, even if nothing in your life changes.
2. The way to change personality is, essentially, by faking it until you make it.
3. The best personality-change interventions help people figure out what they want to change, tell them how change, and remind them to continue changing.
4. "Connection is really the key to happiness." - Sonja Lyubomirsky
5. Authenticity can come from familiarity, and the only way to build familiarity is through experience.
6. The pioneering psychologist Jerome Bruner said, "You more likely act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action."
7. A concept called the "spotlight effect" suggests we overestimate how much other people notice everything we say and do.
8. Many people who are low in conscientiousness can't stop doing once-rewarding behaviors after they stop being enjoyable.
9. People understandably try to avoid difficult feelings like discomfort, sadness, or anxiety. But those feelings can be a sign that something matters to you, and is therefore worth pursuing.